Huawei or another: Chinese firm may still be involved in 5G

The federal government's ban on Chinese involvement in the construction of Australia's new 5G network fails to address the presence of companies such as Huawei in existing infrastructure that the new technology will rely on for years.

Industry insiders claim this disconnect between the government's policy and the technical realities of the 5G rollout is causing widespread confusion among telecommunications companies trying to plan their investment.

Scott Morrison has banned Huawei and ZTE from participating in the building of the 5G mobile network.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen, AP

The claims come as experts have also attacked the total ban on companies such as Huawei as misconceived, given parts of the 5G build could be quarantined from outside interference.

The next generation of mobile networks, 5G, is expected to initially build onto pre-existing 4G and 4G LTE technology, with some telcos looking to use new antennas attached to these legacy networks in the early stages of a 5G rollout. Vodafone and Optus both use Huawei equipment as part of their current 4G mobile networks, while Telstra's network is largely built with equipment from Swedish company Ericsson.

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One major mobile player does not believe there would be any requirement to remove Huawei equipment from its 4G network as it moves into 5G, while another is “uncertain”.

Fairfax Media has repeatedly sought clarification from Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton but has not had a response.

One telco executive, who wanted to remain anonymous, told Fairfax Media he had not ruled out putting in an application to the government to use Huawei’s services for “dumb” technology, like antennas, as part of its 5G rollout.

Another option for telcos would be to keep using Huawei in advanced stages of 4G, and delaying a 5G rollout unless there is additional clarity.

A spokesman for Huawei was unsure on the company’s future with Australia’s telcos, saying the company “does not know” what will happen to its equipment in current 4G builds.

The government's statement announcing the ban pointed to a blurring between the core of the network (where sensitive processing of data and control takes place) and the edge of the network, such as radios and equipment used to connect phones and devices. Some telcos had expected Huawei's equipment to be allowed for non-core aspects of the network.

The standards separate very clearly the core network and the radio access network.

Arnand Prasad

The Huawei spokesman said global standards for 5G maintained a "clear separation" between the core network and the outer Radio Access Network (RAN).

Anand Prasad, security chairman of telecommunications standards group 3GPP, agreed saying this was similar for 4G.

“The standards separate very clearly the core network and the radio access network,” Dr Prasad said at a panel event about 5G Security hosted by CommsDay and sponsored by Huawei on Thursday morning.

University of Helsinki professor Valtteri Niemi, a former chair of the standards body, said while there was a “logical” separation the two different technology parts would likely become physically closer.

“If ... they are in the same location, it’s more tricky [when it comes to] keeping them separate,” Dr Niemi said.

“If it’s in the same building, someone can physically get inside the building ... of course inside the building you can still keep the separation,” he said, with increased security an option."

RMIT University associate professor Mark Gregory said the British system, which has a centre that investigates equipment for backdoors and interference on a regular basis, was preferable to an outright ban.

"They’ve rubbed out Huawei on the basis of false and misleading information," he said.

"What do we do when we have Chinese cars on the roads? What I’m saying is over the next 20 years, one way or another, there will be a massive amount of Chinese systems we’re going to have to deal with from buildings, trucks, cars and medical equipment ... What are they going to do, ban everything?"

Optus vice-president of regulatory and public affairs Andrew Sheridan said in a statement the telco was in “an advanced stage in planning for our 5G launch which will be consistent with the government's guidance”.

A spokeswoman for the government declined to clarify whether telcos would need to replace Huawei equipment with that from another supplier if they wished to extend 4G networks into 5G, noting the "government has nothing further to add" to the initial statement announcing a ban.